Neyla Eavesdropping
by Jjmt
Summary: Sly is on another heist and naturally his two favourite inspectors are on his tail but of course they can't catch him but what happens when they follow Sly to his hideout without him noticing and one of them learns something that will change her life forever... THIS STORY HAS BEEN GIVEN TO IMERIK001 TO UPDATE!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The thief and two inspectors

In Paris the infamous thief Sly Cooper was preparing to a heist to a house of a rich aristocrat who had amassed his fortune by counterfeiting money and forging painting (No, it's not Dimitri). The guy was a security freak. He had built a wall around his house. It was about four meters high and it had what seemed like barbed wire to the thief. On every corner of the wall there was two security cameras and the door... it was more of a gate than a door, it was reinforced steel that was only openable by fingerprint- and retina scanner which according to Bentley only recognized the master of the house and his wife. Inside the house was only some laser security and spotlights which Sly could easily evade.

"Okay, Bentley I'm going in" Sly informed via their earpieces.

"Copy that. The security is down but I'm having bit of a problem with the door and _be_ careful, Sly" Bentley responded.

"Aren't I always" he answered with the trademark arrogant smirk.

"Uh-huh" Bentley replied sarcastically.

Sly just chuckled and paraglided to the front of the door and waited for Bentley to inform that he could go in.

"How's the hacking coming along, Bentley?" Sly asked.

"Nearly there" Bentley replied in his normal field tone which was always little high-pitched due to the small nervousness and worry he had for the field agents particularly Sly.

There was a minute of silence and soon Bentley's nasal voice came and informed: "The door is open, go for it"

"It's not like you to encourage me" Sly replied.

"Just go to the yard" Bentley said frustrated.

Sly chuckled again and went to the yard and carefully scanned the area.

"Bentley, there's no guards. Is it normal?"

"Yes, as a matter fact it is. This guy is so paranoid that he doesn't trust guards"

"Good for us"

"Well, I'm pretty sure that he has compensated the lack of guards with some other securities"

"Hmm, we'll see" Sly replied thoughtfully.

Sly scanned the area again more throughoutly looking for a way in. It was as Bentley would have read his mind when he contacted through the earpieces and said: "Sorry to inform this to you Sly but you'll have to use the front door for once"

"Aww, where's the fun in that" Sly fake-pouted, "And I think I've found a better way in" he said as he saw a small pipe leading to a small window above the front door.

He smirked and silently ran to the pipe and started to climb.

"Why couldn't you use the front door, just for once?" Bentley inquired little annoyed.

Sly didn't answer just climbed to the window and went through it and only to find himself in a rather luxurious and big bathroom with... someone in there.

"There wasn't supposed to be anyone home. Who is she?" Sly thought to himself.

Lucky for Sly the woman wasn't facing him or wasn't looking in the mirror but what distracted Sly a bit was the fact that the rather fetching looking cat had only a towel wrapped around her. He started to make his way to the door which was in the farthest corner and he would have to sneak through the room without the cat noticing. Sly started walking towards the door going along the walls as quietly as possible his gaze fixed on the woman who was filling the bathtub. Unfortunately for Sly the woman did something he wasn't quite prepared for. She tossed away her towel and half stepped to the bathtub but was quickly alarmed by noise from behind her. Sly had been distracted by the cats sudden... revelation that he had knocked a bottle of perfume from a shelf next to him. The woman was about to turn around but Sly being as quick as he was acted even before the bottle had hit the floor. He dashed forward and put a hand her mouth to prevent her from making a noise. As for his other hand... he laid it to the cat's stomach to making sure not to grab anything from too high _or_ too low. She tried to struggle but Sly was a lot stronger than her and kept her grip and pressing her against himself feeling a little embarrassed and ashamed for intruding a woman's personal space like this. He was after all a gentleman thief.

"Mph!" the woman protested.

"I'm so sorry for this, my dear lady but I'm here on business so forgive me for this..." Sly said as he quickly removed his hand from the woman's mouth and grabbed a sleeping dart Bentley had given him and struck it in her thigh.

"What the..." she slurred as the darts chemicals started to take effect and she fell asleep in Sly's arms.

Sly was about to leave but felt bad for leaving the woman there alone with nothing on. He then decided to take her with him and drop her to the next couch or bed that would come by. He lifted her to his arms but not before wrapping the towel around her to cover her. Sly then went out from the room and started to make his way downstairs where he knew the basement door would be.

"Sly, for some reason the internal security systems aren't on, so you should have no problem in reaching the basement" Bentley said via earpieces.

"I think I know why the systems are offline" Sly answered, "I found this rather lovely looking cat from the bathroom and I would say that she's our target's wife"

"What do you mean 'found'?" Bentley asked.

"She might have noticed me and I darted her..."

"What! Where's she now?"

"Right here in my arms"

"WHY?!"

"Gee, Bentley, my ears bleed after that" Sly joked, "Come on I couldn't just leave her lying there on a cold tile floor. I have to at least put her in bed or something"

Bentley sighed before answering.

"Fine, but don't get caught because of her"

"Who? Me?"

"Yes, Sly, _you_ "

"There's the basement door" Sly said abruptly, "It seems to have a scanners too"

"Ok, I'll hack it in no time"

"Why bother? We have the wife after all. Didn't you say that the scanners recognize her as well?"

"Didn't you say that she was darted"

"Yes but I'm sure she won't mind" Sly said as he lifted her hand to the fingerprint scanner after it had gone green he did the same with the retina scanner and after it had turned green he opened the door and made sure it stayed open so that he could get the cat off from his arms. He saw a couch in the room next to the hallway the door was in. Sly ran to the room and laid the woman on the couch and wrapped a blanket around her.

"Sly! It's a security door, it's not supposed to be kept open for extended periods of time!" Bentley exclaimed in his earpiece.

"I'm on my way" he said as he ran back to the door, went through and closed it, "Did I make it in time?"

"Well, there seems to be no alarms set off so I guess you were in time"

"Excellent and now for the safe and some incriminating photos for our favourite inspectors" Sly said grinning as he thought about the two beautiful Interpol officers who had chased her for years. He started descending the stairs as Bentley contacted him.

"You mean _your_ favourite inspectors. Have you decided which you adore more?" he asked sarcastically.

"It's not that simple, Bent. Love is complicated"

Bentley sighed again and said nothing.

"Where's the safe?" Sly asked as he looked around in the rather large room he had arrived.

"Let's see... It should be located in the north-west corner of the room" Bentley answered. (Don't ask me how Sly know which compass point is where. He just knows)

"Thanks, pal" Sly said as he started running through the room. He was cautious even if there was no one in. He snapped few incriminating pictures on the way.

"How does he operate this stuff all by himself?" Sly asked mostly from himself but Bentley answered:

"Everything is automated so he doesn't have to do anything except press buttons on his personal computer"

"WoW, he's really paranoid"

"That he is"

Sly then found the safe and examined it. It had eight locks (Why do I have a feeling it has a name in English...) on it and Sly started to crack them open. On the fourth lock he said to himself: "He has more lock than Uncle Scrooge" (BTW wouldn't it be cool if someone wrote a fanfic about Sly Cooper and the gang breaking into Uncle Scrooge's money bin. The most secure location ever versus the master thief of the time)

When he finally got the safe open it revealed a lots of money and jewels. But knowing that the money was false Sly left it alone and took only the jewels. Once he had everything he left a calling card and started to make his way back to the stairs. He climbed them up and went for the front door but just as he was about to open it someone else opened it from the other side. Sly quickly jumped away and saw that there was a cheetah standing on the threshold. He was tall and heavily built and looked somewhat bulky but Sly wasn't fooled. He knew that the cheetah could be quite fast when he needed to.

"Thief, you should know better than to try to steal from me" he growled at Sly.

Sly smirked arrogantly and said: "And you should know better than to stand in my way. You might end up in jail"

The cheetah roared and lunged himself at Sly with great speed. He managed only narrowly avoid him. Once his back was turned Sly struck him with the cane to the back of his head. The cheetah turned around and lunged again and this time he caught Sly and dug his claws on his chest and ripped wounds on him. Sly managed to push him off and get up but the gashes on him were now aching. He would need to finish this quickly so he threw a smoke bomb.

"What the..." the cheetah started but was cut of when Sly's cane made contact with his skull, knocking him unconscious.

"Murray, rev up the van. We're on for a fast getaway"

"Roger" the hippo answered.

Sly had was just about to jump up to a rooftop when he heard: "Freeze, Cooper"

Sly grinned before turning around and laying his eyes on his two favourite women. First was a beautiful, blue-haired vixen, Inspector Carmelita Fox. The other was lilac tigress with stunning green eyes, Inspector Neyla. Both of them were pointing a shock pistol at him.

"Ah, I was already wondering that you had forgotten about me" Sly said smoothly.

"Like we could ever forget you, Cooper" Neyla answered.

"It warms my heart to know that I'm thought of by such beautiful women" he continued flashing a charming grin.

"Cut the flirty chit-chat, Ringtail. " Carmelita interjected but was secretly flattered by his comments.

"What would be the fun in that?" he replied.

She growled and gripped her pistol tighter.

"Put your hand on your head and turn around slowly" Carmelita ordered.

"Anything for you, my love but unfortunately my schedule is little tight today so maybe we could..." Sly was cut off by Neyla who said: "Just do as she says Cooper, if you don't want to get hurt"

Neyla was getting secretly jealous about Sly paying compliments only to Carmelita. In fact it always seemed that he favored Carm over her.

"You know I'd do anything for you both but as I said I have a prior engagement later today" Sly replied as he threw another smoke bomb and quickly hopped to the rooftop.

As soon as the smoke cleared out the women looked around and asked simultaneously: "Where did he go?"

They looked around for a moment and saw him running on a rooftop not too far away.

"There" Neyla said and started following him Carmelita right behind her.

They chased after him shooting and yelling things in Spanish and English, well Carmelita did, Neyla was her usual calm self. They were nearing him but as soon as they got too close Sly threw third smoke bomb and disappeared.

"Goddamit! He got away again!" Carmelita growled.

Neyla put a hand on her shoulder and said: "Don't worry. I'm sure we'll catch him the next time to come"

"You always say that"

"But I'm sure this time"

"You say that always too"

"Ugh, there's just no pleasing you sometimes, girl" Neyla said as she punched her shoulder and laughed, "Come on, let's go to the park to clear your head"

The two inspectors walked to the park nearby and sat on a bench there.

"How does he always get away. How come he can outsmart _both_ of us?" Carmelita asked.

"Well, he's a master thief and his flirty talk is a pretty good distraction..." Neyla trailed off.

"What? You aren't seriously thinking what he said is what he really thinks" Carmelita of course deep in her heart loved the things Sly said about her but wasn't going to admit to anyone, not even her best friend and partner.

"He does sound quite sincere with his comments" Neyla said.

"Neyla, do you realize what you're saying?" Carmelita said. She was really getting angry because Neyla had too much affection in her voice when she spoke of the raccoon.

"You're not jealous, are you Carmy?" she asked with a grin.

"I... um... that is... NO!"

Neyla giggled and said: "Sounds to me that you are"

Carmelita was about to answer but then she saw a familiar figure running on the rooftop not far from them.

"Look! It's Cooper! Let's go and get him!" she said and shot up from the bench.

"Wait. I have a better idea. Let's follow him to his hideout and bust the whole gang"

Carmelita nodded and they tailed the thief back to an old and remote building on the outskirts of Paris.

"You go through the door and I'll go from that window" Neyla suggested.

"Ok" she agreed.

"I'll go in first. Go behind the door and wait for ten minutes and then go in"

Carmelita just nodded and went to the door as Neyla climbed to the window. Carm wasn't able to see Neyla from where she stood so she looked at her watch and waited. Meanwhile Neyla was waiting behind the window out of sight but close enough to get in and hear what would be said in the room. The window was open. She looked at the room and saw that it was a bedroom. It had only bed, desk and a cupboard in it. Neyla continued to observe the room until she saw the door open and Sly himself walk in. She quickly put her head down and started preparing to lunge into the room.

"Now where's that shirt?" Sly said out loud.

Neyla chuckled silently and peeked her head up again to see the raccoon without shirt searching the cupboard. She couldn't help but to admire his athletic build and especially the nicely formed 6-pack he had.

"I guess all those heists and thief trainings are really good for something" Neyla thought to herself.

After Sly had found his shirt he came by to his bed next to the window and pulled something from under the pillow. He sat down right below the window. Neyla was about to lunge in and arrest the raccoon but she was halted when she saw what Sly was holding. It was a picture frame that held a picture of... her? Neyla looked at the picture and saw that she was smiling in it, her green eyes almost shining. She looked happy.

"Hi, Neyla" he started. Neyla was frozen in place just staring at the raccoon, "It's good to see you"

"How are you? I'm sorry if I again flirted bit more with Carmelita but I want you to know that I don't mean it in the same way I do with you" he continued, "And I'm aslo sorry that I can't do anything about your co-workers harassing you in the way they do. Those callous bastards! If I could I'd go and beat them to the pulp. It should be punishable crime to even try to do things like that to anyone like you"

Neyla was speechless. No one had ever said anything like that about her. She had actually always felt like she was unwanted by everyone except the all the men who just to wanted her body, nothing else. She was also very touched by the caring Sly showed.

"If only you could know how I care for you... How I wish to be there with you when you're sad to comfort you. To be there to listen when you talk about your day and be there when you would need me" Sly said still oblivious to the tigress right behind her, "But it can never be. I can never tell you that I would gladly spend my life with you and if I ever had to choose between you and thieving I would without a doubt choose you. I can never tell you that... I love you" he whispered but Neyla heard this and was so shocked but also very happy at the same time. The man she loved loved her too.

Btu she was snapped back to reality when she heard a completely foreign sound from the raccoon. A silent sob. Neyla looked back at him and saw that he was sitting knees drawn against his chest and arms wrapped around them. He was rocking back and forth and crying a little. She couldn't take it any longer. Neyla went in and touched Sly's shoulder with her hand. This caused him shoot up and turn around. The sight of the tigress froze him to the spot.

"N-N-Neyla... What are you doing here?" Sly asked.

Again she was surprised. She hadn't seen Sly stutter since Carmelita's bra had accidentally been ripped of when she ran through very thick rosebushes. The memory brought a smile to her lips.

"Sly, at first I came here to arrest you..." Sly grew pale when he heard this, "... But now I don't think I have the heart to arrest you"

Sly became even paler as he asked: "You heard what I said?"

"Yes, I heard every word"

Now Sly was as pale as a ghost.

"I don't know what to say..."

"You don't need to say anything. Let me do the talking instead"

He nodded.

"I was always little jealous when you flirted more with Carm than me but no that I know the truth I'm just so happy"

"You are? You aren't mad?" Sly asked while eyeing her carefully.

"No, why would I be mad" Neyla asked as she put a hand on his cheek.

Sly said nothing so she continued: "And I couldn't be mad at you because..."

"Yeah?" he managed to mutter.

"...Because I love you too, Sly Cooper" she said and without a warning wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately.

Sly was so surprised by this that he stumbled backwards and pulled Neyla with her. She didn't let go of Sly and continued to kiss him. It took Sly a moment to "adjust" to the situation but eventually he kissed her back just as passionately. When Neyla finally pulled back she still had her arms around him and Sly had his arms on her waist. They got up and gazed lovingly into each other eyes before they kissed again. Alas the moment was broken far too soon by a feminine voice that sounded astonished and angry as it asked: " _Neyla what the hell are you doing?_ "

Now, my fellow readers I know that this is similar to one other story here in but I just wanted to write it from this ankle, so don't be too mad about it and if you are I have news for you: I don't care. Review and stuff.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: In love with a thief

 _"Neyla, what the hell are you doing?"_ came Carmelita's angry and astonished voice from the door.

The raccoon and the tigress broke the kiss and gazed at the door. In the doorway stood very angry looking vixen who had her shock pistol pointed at them.

"Carmelita!?" Sly and Neyla exclaimed in unison.

"Yes, it's me your best friend! Still remember me?!" she yelled at Neyla.

"Of course I still remember you h..." but she was cut off by Carmelita:

"Good, then you probably won't mind explaining, _what the hell are you doing!?_ " she screamed.

Sly was really getting worried. He had never seen Carmelita like this. Angry, yes but in this kind of utter wrath, never.

"Well, I was just..." Neyla started but was cut of by Carmelita again:

"You were just _kissing_ the world's most wanted criminal, please tell me he forced you"

"Carmelita, I would never..." Sly started but Carmelita was determined to be the one talking:

"You stay out of this you lying, no-good, treacherous _thief_!"

"Treacherous?" Sly thought.

Then Neyla realized what was really bugging her, besides the fact that her friend and partner had just kissed Sly Cooper. She had never thought that Carmelita actually would have had feeling for the raccoon. Of course Neyla had always teased her about the fact that Sly flirted with her more than Neyla but not in a million years would she have thought that "ol' ironsides" could harbour any kind of feelings for Sly Cooper.

"Carm, why are you yelling at me like I just kissed your boyfriend?" Neyla asked quickly before she could interrupt.

"What... no... that's not... HANDS UP, BOTH OF YOU!" She shouted, "You're under arrest for countless robberies, larceny and escaping arrest and _you_ are arrested for associating with a well known thief!" she ranted.

"Wait is _she_ in love with me too?" Sly asked and looked at Carmelita like he would have noticed her only now.

"Yes, she is. Once when we had... consumed rather large amount of vine and we were really not so sober we actually fought over you" Neyla told Sly who looked even more astonished.

" _Neyla_ , why did you tell him that?!" Carmelita yelled in aggravation.

"I can't keep secrets from the man I love" Neyla replied without thought.

This was finally the drop that snapped the camel's neck. Carmelita fired several bolts at them and they tried to avoid them but not to avail: It appeared that Carmelita used the shock bolts that packed so big punch that it was almost enough to kill and Sly being the master thief easily avoided the bolts but Neyla wasn't so lucky. She got hit in the stomach and collapsed into the ground. It was then that Carmelita realized what she had done.

"I... shot her... my best... friend" she whimpered.

Carmelita then noticed Sly who had knelt above Neyla and the anger started to fill her again.

" _YOU! GET AWAY FROM HER! THIS IS ALL YOUR DAMN FAULT!_ " she screamed again as she pointed her shock pistol at him... again.

"I WILL KILL YOU!" she shouted and about to shoot him but didn't get the chance when a green dart stuck in her neck.

"What the..." she managed to say before collapsing to the floor and Sly didn't even bother to catch her.

After Carmelita was down to count a green turtle wheeled into the room.

"Sly what's going on?" Bentley asked in his nasal voice.

"Bentley, get over here, quickly" Sly said worried about Neyla.

Bentley wheeled over to Sly and Neyla.

"Is she okay?" Sly whispered to him.

"Well she doesn't have any visible outer damage but I'll have to examine her more closely" Bentley replied in voice like this was something that happened every day. He was of course aware of Sly's feeling for the inspectors but Bentley had always thought that Sly couldn't decide which he loved more.

Sly had always loved only Neyla but he never showed it to anyone, not even his lifelong friends. He liked to lead them on that he loved both of the inspectors.

"Bring her to the lab" Bentley said and started to wheel away.

Sly gently lifted the unconscious tigress to his arms and carried her to the laboratory Bentley had built to their hideout. It was only then that Sly noticed the handcuffs on Bentley's hands... well hand, the other cuff wasn't attached to his wrist.

"Um, Bentley, What happened?" Sly asked gesturing to the handcuffs.

"Well, while you were upstairs Inspector Fox suddenly burst through the front door and shot Murray unconscious and cuffed me so that I couldn't move but fortunately for all of us I was able to pick the other cuff lock. I didn't even bother with the other one because I knew that Carmelita was upstairs and I assumed you'd be sleeping already but instead I found you there with Inspector Neyla..." Bentley trailed of on his explanation.

Sly blushed a little which was rare, although Bentley didn't notice because he was going ahead of Sly. They soon arrived to the laboratory and Sly laid Neyla to the nearby table due to the lack of any kind of berths. She was still unconscious from the shock and Sly worried more every second. Bentley started to bring all kinds of devices to her and attaching her to them. Sly not being needed in his friends medical examination went to get a pillow for the tigress. But when he returned Bentley was looking worried. He noticed Sly too late and tried to hide his worrying face but Sly wasn't fooled.

"What is it Bentley?" Sly asked.

"Her heart, it's beating too fast for an unconscious state" Bentley answered not looking at Sly.

"What!?" Sly exclaimed.

"She was shocked with so high voltage that it nearly killed her but now that she's alive the electricity of the bolt has increased her heart rate to dangerously high levels" Bentley explained.

"What can we do?" Sly asked anxiously.

"We need to stabilize the heart beat but it requires drugs I don't have here. I'm afraid we need to break into a hospital" Bentley said.

"How long do we have before her heart gives in?" Sly asked. (Is it only me or is Sly oddly calm when his tigress is slowly leaving this life?)

"Well, she's young so we have plenty of time but let's still get in action posthaste" Bentley said.

This calmed Sly a bit. Suddenly he remembered the vixen still (hopefully) asleep upstairs.

"Bentley, what about Carmelita?" Sly asked.

"We have to do something about her" Bentley mused.

"How long does she sleep?" Sly asked.

"Long enough for us to think of something" Bentley replied, "We could always tie her up and deal with the situation at hand first"

"That works for me" Sly answered, "Where's our rope?" he asked.

"We have the cuffs" Bentley said raising the hand with the cuffs.

Sly grinned and went to pick the lock and had soon relieved Bentley of his cuffs. They were about to leave when Bentley suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, Sly, wait" he said as he turned around and took a syringe and emptied it to Neyla's arm.

"What was that?" Sly asked.

"Something to keep her asleep"

"Why?"

"If she wakes up and starts to move or panic or something like that her heart rate will increase even more and _that_ even her heart won't endure. The unconsciousness is the only thing keeping her heart from giving in"

Sly only winced but said nothing. They left again for the door and stepped through. Sly went to the upstairs and Bentley went to get Murray and plan for the new "heist" to the hospital. Sly found Carmelita from the same position where she was left. He glared at her coldly before lifting her to the bed and cuffing her to it. He then exited and went to the planning room where Bentley was already setting up a slideshow.

"You have a plan this fast?" Sly asked astonished.

"Well, since it's only hospital and not Fort Knox there's really nothing to plan about" Bentley replied, "Ok, gather here. We have a hospital to break into"

Will our favourite tigress survive. Well of course she will. I hope no one really thought that I would kill Neyla. Review and stuff.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Breaking into the hospital

"Ok, gather here. We have a hospital to break into"

Sly and Murray took their places by the table as Bentley started his slide show.

"So, first Murray will drive us to the nearest hospital and Sly will get some medication for Inspector Neyla. On the way I will hack the infinitesimal securities that the hospital has and then Sly will get to the second floor and get the medicine. Any questions?"

"Do we have enough time to pull this off?" Sly asked worried about Neyla.

"Don't worry, we have plenty of time" Bentley said, "But let's get going" he continued.

The gang got to the van and Murray revved up the engine and drove out of the garage. On the way Bentley hacked the system. It took him only three minutes as the drive took about ten minutes.

"Okay, Sly get yourself to the second floor and get the tonic for the Inspector" Bentley instructed.

"Ok" Sly said as he jumped out of the van and started to look around for some other passage than the front door. As everyone might recall he doesn't like to use the front door if there's a alternative. He continued to look around and spotted a pipe going all the way to the top floor. Sly started climbing and got to the second floor window. He went inside and saw that he had popped right into the medicine room. He looked around again as he connected Bentley via his BUC (=binoc-u-com).

"Um, Bentley, where exactly is the tonic" Sly said.

Bentley scanned the room seeing it through Sly's BUC and said: "I would venture to guess that it's in the medicine cabinet over there... Where it says 'cardiovascular medicines'..." Bentley said as if it were obvious.

"Come on, Bentley. It's your job to know stuff" Sly said.

"The complicated stuff. Not something like basic medical vocabulary" Bentley retorted.

"Hmph" Sly huffed and went to the cabinet.

It was locked but Sly being a master thief picked the lock easily and started look through the different bottles and other stuff.

"What was the tonic's name again?" Sly asked as he realized that Bentley hadn't even mentioned it.

"The Strophanthus tonic is the name" Bentley replied immediately. (I have actually no idea to what that tonic is meant for but I'm sure it is meant for some sort of heart treatement)

Sly continued his search and said to himself: "Where are you Stro-whatsis tonic... There you are" he said as he took a small flask with clean liquid in it.

"I got the tonic, Bentley" Sly called via the earpieces.

"Excellent, now come back before you're spotted" Bentley called back.

"Relax, Bent. It's like you said: This is a hospital not Fort Knox"

"Just get back to the van"

Sly went back to the window across the room and paraglided down to the van. Murray had kept the engine going and Bentley had opened the doors for a quick getaway. Sly jumped in and as soon as the doors were closed Murray sped up and took them back to the safe house. On the way Sly gave the tonic to Bentley who made sure it was the right one before putting it away in his wheelchair's container. When they arrived Sly got out from the van before it had even stopped moving and ran inside and further into the laboratory.

"Bentley! Where are you?! You have to save my tigress!" Sly yelled to his earpiece.

"I'm coming. Gee, gimme a break, Sly. I'm in a wheelchair" Bentley called back from outside of the lab.

"Don't give me that. You have rocket boosters on it" Sly said as Bentley came into the room.

"It is not meant for inside usage" Bentley threw back at him.

When Sly said nothing Bentley just went by Neyla and removed the cork.

"Hold her nose, please. We have to make sure she swallows this" Bentley instructed.

Sly gently cut the flow of oxygen by pressing his fingers onto her nostrils. Bentley then poured some of the liquid from the flask into Neyla's mouth. Sly stayed and held her hand as Bentley turned to check the readings from his devices.

"Her heart rate is stabilizing. You can breath now" Bentley said as he looked at Sly who hadn't even realized that he was holding.

"When will she awake?" Sly asked.

"Probably in the morning. Little before we will or in your case many hours before you do" Bentley answered.

Sly just snorted and was about to give away a witty remark but was cut of by a rather loud and angry voice from upstairs: "COOPER! LET ME FREE! I WILL NOT BE HELD PRISONER!"

Sly sighed and turned to Bentley.

"Any chance for another sleep dart?" he asked extending his hand towards the turtle.

"Here" Bentley said handing him a green dart.

Sly climbed upstairs and to his room where the vixen was still cuffed and on the bed. A great urge to taunt Carmelita a bit suddenly filled Sly.

"Inspector Fox, what are you doing on my bed? Keeping it warm for me...?" Sly asked. (If you get the innuendo...)

Carmelita growled.

"Let me lose and I warm you with my pistol" she said between bared teeth.

"Always the hostile but since you insist I'll let you free..." Sly said smiling to his thoughts.

Carmelita was taken aback by this but instantly became suspicious by Sly's sudden complying. Sly walked to Carmelita and pulled the key to the cuffs out of his pocket and showed it to her.

"What are you waiting for, Cooper?" she asked harshly as Sly sat down next to her.

"I just remembered that I can't set you free since we are in our hideout and it would be most unhealthy for the gang and my Neyla..." but after that Sly was cut off by Carmelita who was suddenly very angry.

" _Your_ Neyla!" she exclaimed,"She's not yours and never will be. Neyla is a law-abiding inspector of Interpol and as soon as she resuscitates she will bust you three and free me!" Carmelita yelled even if she knew that it wasn't true.

"Why then did she kiss me with very great passion?" Sly asked grinning.

" _SHUT UP, COOPER!_ " she screamed and tried to kick him.

"Now, now Carmelita. There's no need for such anger and violence" Sly "calmed" her.

She growled again and glared at Sly eyes on fire.

"Get these damn cuffs off" she demanded.

"I'm sorry but I have to do this" Sly said as he pulled the sleep dart.

"You just try, Cooper" she snarled.

Seeing that Sly was already sitting next to her (and with his speed) it wasn't really hard to stuck the dart to her arm.

"Cooper! You lying... no yawn good... th- th- thievvvv" she said stuttering and yawning before falling asleep.

Sly just chuckled and removed the cuffs from her hands. He then lifted her from the bed and carried to the team van. After that he went back to the lab and carried the sleeping tigress up to his room and laid her on the bed Carmelita had been cuffed to minutes ago. After he made sure that Neyla was okay he walked back to the living room where Murray had stationed himself in front of the TV and Bentley was surprise, surprise on his computer typing away.

"So, how was she?" Bentley asked.

"Typical, Carmelita" Sly answered grinning, "But we would really need to get her home, unless of course you want to wait for her to wake up..." he continued leaving the thought hanging in the air.

"Murray, into the van" Bentley said quickly as he put his laptop away and went to scooted to the van.

"Coming, Bentley" Murray said as he got up almost as quickly as Bentley went to the van.

Sly followed his two friends and got in the front seat while Murray of course drove and Bentley hooked his chair to the back. He eyed Carmelita cautiously as if she was a dangerous animal.

"Well in a way she is, at least when awake" Sly thought to himself when he noticed Bentley's look.

He laughed at the thought as Murray started the engine and drove out from the garage door Bentley had opened a minute ago. They drove for awhile and finally arrived at Carmelita's apartment. Bentley then opened the doors and Sly jumped to the back and lifted the vixen again and carried her out and to the front door. He then laid her down and picked the lock. Once Carmelita was in his arms again he went to the apartment door and picked it as well. Although it took awhile since Carmelita had inserted a lock like a safe to her door but of course it didn't stop the master thief from entering. Sly then carried Carmelita through her living room, past the kitchen and into her bedroom and dropped her to the bed. He then whipped out a calling card and wrote the words: _"Hope you had a sweet dreams and don't worry Carmy, Neyla is safe with us"_. Sly chuckled as he left the card to the nightstand it was the most serious one he'd left for either of the inspectors. Usually he just let some witty remark but this time Sly felt that he should at least try to set Carmelita's mind to rest. He left the room and went outside and back to the van.

"Now back to my beautiful tigress" Sly thought smiling as they drove back to the safe house.

So this is almost the last chapter but I think I'll need to write a few more. Review and stuff.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The tigress' awakening

"Now back to my beautiful tigress" Sly thought smiling as they drove back to the safe house.

Once they had arrived Sly again jumped from the van before it had completely stopped and rushed back to his room to check up on Neyla. She was still sound asleep on his bed. Sly had to sigh contently at the sight, she looked peaceful in her sleep and she was smiling a little. Sly bent over and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Good night, my love" he whispered.

Sly then returned to the living room where the others were situated just like before they left: Murray on the couch watching TV and Bentley on his laptop typing as usual.

"How is she?" Bentley asked like a doctor who's coming for a home visit.

"Still sleeping" Sly answered going to a armchair next to the couch and resting his head.

"As she's supposed to. We should get her home as well" Bentley said. (Granted, it comes little late but no can do)

Sly's head and ears shot up and he looked at Bentley like he had just said something very preposterous.

"She's not going anywhere until she wakes up" Sly said sternly.

"What?!" Bentley exclaimed. He wasn't expecting that Sly would actually want to wait for Neyla to wake up.

"You heard me, she's not going anywhere" Sly said. He was really surprised to see Bentley like this. After all he had been completely calm earlier.

"Although she was unconscious..." Sly thought to himself.

"You can't possibly want to wait for Interpol's most dangerous officer to wake up in our _hideout_ " Bentley said emphasizing the last word.

"We can't just take her home and leave her alone. I want to make sure she's okay after she's awake" Sly insisted.

"She will arrest us on sight!" Bentley said his voice raising.

"No, she won't" Sly said.

"How can you be so sure" Bentley asked dubiously, eyes narrowing.

"She said she loved me and that she doesn't have the heart to arrest me anymore" Sly answered. He also smiled at the memory.

"She was of course lying to get you arrested" Bentley tried to reason.

"No, she wasn't!" Sly said little louder than intended. It really annoyed him that Bentley doubted the newfound love between Neyla and himself.

"You can't know that!" Bentley was now yelling at him. At this point it was clear that there was going to be an argument so Murray took off and went to do something with the van.

"Yes, I can!" Sly yelled back.

"How?"

"She kissed me!"

Bentley scoffed.

"She's a _cop!_ I'm sure she'll use every trick in _and_ off the book to arrest you!"

Sly was really getting angry this time. He could still somehow bear that Bentley doubted their love but insulting his tigress' decency was something he wasn't going to listen from anyone, even from his best friend.

"Bentley" Sly said in dangerously low tone as he got in front of the turtle and bend to his level to look into the his eyes, "If you _ever_ again insult Neyla in _that_ way I'm going to toss our friendship out of the window and beat you so hard that Murray's fists will feel like a nice massage" once he had finished he turned and exited the room before the turtle could say anything.

Bentley just "stood" there dumbfounded in shock that Sly had said something like that. He didn't really understand Sly's infatuation with Neyla. She was a cop, she would never fall for a thief.

"It's against the logic" Bentley thought to himself. And when something was against logic it was beyond the turtle. (Does that sound weird? I think it does but I don't actually know what to do about it...)

Sly on the other hand had quickly run into his room locked the door behind him. He then turned to Neyla and smile formed to his face again. Sly looked at her for moment and then took a chair next to the bed and sat there waiting for her to wake up. After he had sat there for a minute Sly began to think of what he had said to Bentley. He felt a bit bad afterwards.

"I have to apologize" he thought to himself.

"But don't worry, my love. I won't let him take you away" Sly said out loud to the sleeping tigress as he caressed her cheek with his hand. (I'm making Bentley sound like someone very evil with that line...)

Neyla obviously liked the feeling of Sly's hand caressing her cheek as she began to purr softly in her sleep. Sly chuckled a little at the sound but found that it was quite adorable. He continued this for some time until his hand was really starting to ache a little. It also didn't help that his eyes were beginning to feel really heavy. He looked at the clock. It showed 11.34 pm.

"Perhaps I should just go to sleep" Sly thought.

As he did he just closed his eyes and allowed the dreams to overcome him.

Timeskip to Neyla's awakening...

Neyla's eyes started to flutter open and she looked around. As she recognized the familiar surroundings the memories came back to her causing a smile to form on her face.

"I'm still in Sly's room" she thought as she got up rubbing her eyes.

Then Neyla heard a noise and turned her head to look at the sleeping raccoon who was snoring softly. Just like Sly before she couldn't help but to chuckle at the sound. It was like music to her ears. On a whim she extended an arm towards him and gently rubbed the back of his neck, trying not to but eventually causing the raccoon to wake up. He yawned mightily showing all of his teeth which made Neyla giggle.

"Good morning" she said smiling.

"Neyla!?" Sly exclaimed as he turned to look at the tigress, "Are you alright?"

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" she asked looking little lost.

"Well, here's the story" Sly said as he switched to the bed from the chair, "After Carmelita had... shot you your heart rate got really high and we broke into a hospital to get you medicine" Sly continued.

"You broke into a hospital... for me?" Neyla said as she looked at Sly.

"I'd do anything for you, my beautiful tigress" Sly said as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close.

"I'm going to hold you to that" Neyla said draping her arm around Sly's neck.

They looked into each other's eyes for a moment and exchanged a long, passionate kiss.

Sorry to leave it here, my good readers but unfortunately I'm like this, so review and stuff...


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Friends? Gone...

They looked into each other's eyes for a moment and exchanged a long, passionate kiss. After they broke the kiss they continued to stare each other until Sly said: "Come, let's go. I want you to meet my gang"

Neyla hesitated a little.

"Are you sure that's a good idea just yet?" she asked.

"Well, Bentley might not be happy about this but I'm sure that he'll get over it and Murray, he's happy if we're all happy" Sly answered as he got up and held his hand out.

"Alright" Neyla said grabbing his hand and getting up herself.

They walked out of the room and into the living room only to find it empty. They looked around but saw or heard nothing.

"Where are they?" Neyla asked.

"Probably gone into hiding because of you" Sly said little annoyed.

Neyla laughed a little and asked: "Are they really that afraid of me?"

"Does it surprise you?" Sly said smiling and cocking an eyebrow.

She laughed even more.

"Guess not" she said.

"Let's check the kitchen and the basement" Sly said.

They went to look in the kitchen but it too was empty after the kitchen they went to the basement door but its lock was on place so there couldn't be anyone down there.

"Where could they be?" Neyla asked.

"Let's check the lab and the garage" Sly said as he led the tigress to the laboratory.

Sly and Neyla searched the room but saw no one. They were about to leave the room but Sly's BUC went off. He grabbed it from his leg pouch and raised to his eyes. Bentley was on the other small box on the left and Sly was in the other on the right.

"Bentley where are you?" Sly asked immediately.

"We took the van and drove to a safe place" Bentley informed with a tense voice.

"What!?" Sly exclaimed, "Why?"

"Because of _her_ " Bentley answered.

"Neyla? What's your problem with her? She's not going to arrest us"

"She's just waiting for a moment when we all are in one place and then arrest us all on the spot"

Sly sighed.

"I'm going to hang up now. Give me a call when you think you'll listen to me" Sly said as he hung up.

He gave another sigh. Neyla noticed it and came to his side and wrapped her arms around him.

"What's wrong, Sly?" she asked rubbing his neck.

"They're not coming back here until you leave" he sighed gently caressing her cheek.

"Perhaps I should go" Neyla suggested with a hint of sadness which didn't go unnoticed by Sly.

"No. I don't want you to leave" Sly said as he grabbed the tigress into a tight hug.

"I don't want to come between you and your friends" Neyla said looking away.

Sly put his hand under her chin and lifted her eyes so that he could look at her eyes.

"No, don't think it like that, my love. It's _them_ who shouldn't come between _us_ " Sly said and drew her to a kiss.

Sly let her go and saw that she was smiling again.

"But what do we do now?" Neyla asked, "Your friends aren't coming back anytime soon"

"Are you hungry?" Sly asked caressing her stomach.

"I'm starving, my love" she answered.

"Come, then. I'll fix us something" Sly said and went for the kitchen.

Neyla followed him and they went through the kitchen door. Sly sat Neyla on a chair and refused to let her help. Since Murray was usually the one to cook Sly wasn't exactly sure what was their groceries status so he just went through the kitchen cabinets until he found something. So far he'd picked some spaghetti, tomato sauce and minced meat and also surprisingly some parmesan. With these ingredients he decided to make some spaghetti bolognese. (Ah, it is really soooo good. I just ate it for dinner. Do you remember the legendary conversation between Sly and the Venetian guard? About his mother's pasta sauce?) He put the spaghetti to a pot to boil, then he took a frying pan and began to brown the meat at the same time he heated the tomato sauce.

"Do you manage, my love?" Neyla asked little teasingly.

"Come now, my beautiful tigress, if there's two things that a master thief absolutely has to know besides thieving, they're how to dance perfectly _and_ how to prepare a delicious meal for the love of their life" Sly joked.

Neyla laughed hard at his comment and continued to watch the raccoon as he scrambled to meat and at the same time removed the spaghetti from the stove. She couldn't help but to admire the firmness and quickness which with Sly prepared all the ingredients. He didn't even burn anything.

In fact Sly was really giving everything he got to the cooking but he wanted to look good in front of his lady love. Once the meat had browned enough he poured it to the tomato sauce and removed it from the stove. Sly took out two plates and made two large servings as he knew that they were both quite hungry not have eaten in several hours. He took a crystal carafe they'd stolen few years back and filled it with water. Beside it he set two wine glasses made of crystal they'd also stolen few years since. He took a large tray and organized everything there. Sly then took the tray and carried it to the table.

Neyla noticed the jug full of water.

"No wine?" she asked cocking a brow.

"Unfortunately my friends aren't that much of a wine fans, so we're running little low" Sly replied.

Sly set the other plate in front of her and poured her a glass of water.

 _"Bon appétit, ma belle tigresse"_ Sly said in his fluent French. (Bon appétit, my beautiful tigress)

 _"Merci beaucoup, mon beau raton"_ Neyla replied in her perfect French. (Thank you very much, my handsome raccoon)

She tasted the spaghetti and was speechless.

"It tastes amazing!" she thought before saying it out loud.

 _"Je suis heureux que tu l'aimes"_ Sly continued in French for some reason. (I'm glad that you like it)

 _"Et je suis heureuse si tu es heureux"_ she answered. (And I'm happy if you're happy)

 _"Pourquoi parlons-nous francais?"_ she continued. (Why are we speaking French?)

 _"Parce que c'est la langue de l'amour"_ Sly replied smoothly. (Because it's the language of love[Okay I think that's enough French for now])

Neyla smiled lovingly to him and blew a kiss. Sly smiled too and blew a kiss in return. After this display of affection was over they ate in silence.

(I can't help but to think of the scene from Lady and the Tramp where they are in the restaurant eating spaghetti... and the song, oh, it's immortal. _This is the night, it's a beautiful night and we call it_ bella notte... Bella notte = Beautiful night in Italian, just in case someone doesn't know)

"Sly?" Neyla asked suddenly when a thought popped into her head.

"Yes, my love"

"Why... did you always flirt more with Carmelita than me?"

Sly set down his cutlery and sighed a little before answering: "I always felt kind of like my flirting was wasted with you. It never seemed to effect you in any way except maybe getting a few more shots from your pistol and with Carmelita... well she always blushed and became even more angry... I used to think she was cute when she was angry..."

"But not anymore?" Neyla asked leaning forwards and quirking a brow.

Sly just grinned and said: "Why would I bother with her when I have you, my beautiful tigress"

"You're helpless. Did you know that?" Neyla asked laughing.

"Just helplessly in love, my darling" Sly replied, his grin widening.

Neyla laughed even more until a new thought hit her.

"BTW, speaking of Carmelita... what exactly happened to her after I blacked out?" she asked.

"Well, after you were down to count she was about to shoot me and after that probably strangle me but fortunately Bentley was just in time to save the day. He shot a sleeping dart to her neck and soon after that she too was down to count, then before departing for the hospital I cuffed her to the bed. Then we went, broke into the hospital, got back, treated you and after that we took her home" Sly told her, "I also think you should call her as soon as he wakes up. She might be worried" he added.

Neyla scoffed a little and looked away.

"I doubt she cares about me after what happened" she said sighing a little.

Sly extended his hand gesturing for her to take it. After a moment she did and Sly said:

"She's your friend. I'm sure she'll forgive you even though it might take some time" he gave her hand a gentle squeeze as he spoke.

"I hope so" Neyla sighed.

Again silence fell between the two and they finished eating. Neyla took their plates and took them to the sink. She was about to do the dishes but Sly stopped her.

"Let me, my love" Sly said as he came from behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

"You made dinner. I am _not_ letting you do the dishes" Neyla said firmly.

"Now, now, my beautiful tigress. A fine lady like yourself shouldn't do this" Sly answered.

"I'm not _that_ fine lady, Sly"

"You are to me"

Neyla chuckled and splashed water at Sly when he tried to take the dish brush from her. After Neyla had finished washing the dishes and putting them to the cabinet to dry.

"You should've just let me to do that" Sly said fake-pouting.

Neyla just chuckled again and wrapped his arms around the raccoon.

"Don't be like that, my love" she "chastised" him.

They were just about to kiss when a loud knock from the door interrupted them...

And with this chapter I would want to wish happy birthdayfor my good friend Wolvehulk! Happy birthday, my friend! Review and stuff...


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Leaving the safe house

They were just about to kiss when a loud knock from the door interrupted them...

"Fine, Sly! We believe you but _if_ she arrests us now we won't take you with us when we break out!" came Bentley's voice from the front door.

Sly just chuckled at his friend's threat and disentangled himself from Neyla. He went for the door and opened it to reveal his two friends. They had different expressions. Bentley looked a little uneasy but wary and Murray was just little scared and eyed Neyla carefully.

"What brought you back?" Sly asked with a grin.

"Clearly she doesn't want to arrest you but I still have my suspicions" Bentley said while glaring at Neyla a bit.

"Come on guys I'm not going to arrest you" Neyla said looking little aggravated which scared the turtle and the hippo further.

They said nothing but came in nonetheless.

"So, what changed your mind?" Sly asked mostly from Bentley knowing that he would answer anyway.

"Well, I might have followed your every move from the surveillance camera's around the house..." Bentley said looking away.

"Excuse me?" Neyla asked eyes narrowing. She wasn't really fond of people spying on her.

"That is... um... I d-d-didn't m-mean to..." Bentley stuttered.

"Now take it easy, my love. They were just worried about me" Sly said but chuckled mentally at the situation.

"At least we weren't in the bedroom" Neyla said rather allusively, "I wouldn't be so forgiving"

All the men blushed. Sly the most but Bentley was close second and Murray looked very uneasy. Neyla looked at the sight before her and laughed and went to Sly.

"Why blushing so much, hon?" she teased wrapping her arms around him.

"Perhaps we shouldn't talk that topic in front of my gang" Sly said blushing a bit more.

"Well, your room is unoccupied..." she continued.

"That's excellent, we'll give you some privacy" Bentley interjected as he "pushed" Murray out of the room and upstairs.

Sly and Neyla laughed at their hasty departure.

"Your worse than me. Did you know that?" Sly accused playfully.

"I'm not sure that's possible, my love"

"You're doing pretty good job at making it possible" Sly said, "But we can't do _it_ with my gang here"

"Well, we can always go to my apartment..."

"That's an excellent idea, my beautiful tigress" Sly said as he leaned in and kissed her.

She returned the kiss and pulled him tighter against herself at the same time Sly had brought his hands to her waist and was also pulling her close. After they broke Neyla remembered Carmelita and said: "I want to check on Carmelita"

Sly tensed a bit and didn't think it was a good idea.

"Are you sure" he asked worriedly.

"I am but perhaps you should be somewhere near just in case" she admitted.

"I promise you I won't let her hurt you again" Sly assured.

"Let's go then. I want to get it over with" Neyla said.

"Wait, I have to tell Bentley that I'll be going" Sly said.

He went for the stairs and climbed up. Sly made his way to a door and knocked.

"Come in" came from inside.

Sly opened the door and stepped into very messy room with two desks, a bed and many bookshelves full of books about science and other stuff. Bentley had never been the most organized person with his room. It was odd now that Sly thought of it.

"What is it Sly?" Bentley asked from in front of one of his desks.

"Neyla invited me to come with her and I said yes obviously. I just came to tell you that" Sly said already leaving but then he remembered something, "Bentley, I'm sorry about earlier. I was just angry about your statement"

"It's okay Sly, I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to insult her like that" Bentley answered.

Sly smiled and closed the door and returned to Neyla.

"Let's go" he said as he opened the door for the tigress.

She thanked and walked outside. Neyla looked around a bit. Now that the sun was shining it was easier to recognize the part of the city they were in right now.

"It's weird we've never found our way here" she said mostly to herself.

"Well, I'm glad that you found your way here when you did or else none of this would've happened" Sly said from next to her.

"I'm glad too" she said taking Sly's hand and smiling at him.

Sly draw her nearer and placed one arm around her waist. She laid her head on his shoulder and they stood there admiring the scenery for awhile. It wasn't much, just some Parisian suburb but they enjoyed each others company more than the view.

"We should go" Sly said after some time.

"Yeah, let's go" Neyla said and started walking along the street.

"Hold on, love. We can't go just like that" Sly halted.

"What do you mean?" she asked puzzled.

"Has my lovely _inspector_ forgotten who with she is right now?" Sly asked putting a small emphasis on the inspector.

"Oh, right. I _did_ forget" she said smiling a little, "It's easy to get carried away with you, Sly"

"I'm sure it is" he laughed, "But we need an alternative route, so may I suggest the rooftops"

"Can you keep up, hon?" Neyla asked grinning and cocking a brow.

"I'll manage" Sly said as he sprinted to the nearest roof. She heard Neyla mutter "false starter" which caused him to laugh a little.

Sly ran to the direction of Carmelita's apartment Neyla on his tail. Naturally Sly was ahead the whole time since he had spent the half of his life running on roofs. After they'd run awhile Sly heard a weak panting noise from behind him.

"Getting tired already?" he called to the tigress behind him.

"A... bit"

"Do you want to slow down?"

"Well, we could... take a breather"

They stopped to a rooftop and Neyla sat down. Sly sat down next to her and rested his head against a chimney and Neyla laid her own head on Sly's shoulder again.

"How come your not panting after that?" she asked.

"I've done that for few years. It doesn't tire me so easily anymore" Sly answered.

Neyla didn't answer. She had realized that they weren't far from Carmelita's apartment anymore.

"We're almost there" Neyla observed.

"So it would seem" Sly replied.

"Do you think she's home?" he continued.

"She should have a day-off today" Neyla answered.

"She takes days off?" Sly asked little astonished.

"Only when I make her to" Neyla answered sighing.

Sly noticed the sigh.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Carmelita never really takes a day off. She's always just working" Neyla began, "I'm worried about her all the time. She never goes anywhere or does anything else than work. It's me who always drags her from the HQ and takes her to somewhere and now that I'm not going to be there for her anymore I worry about her" she finished.

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know, Sly. I don't know" she sighed.

"We'll figure out something" he said taking her hand.

"We?" Neyla asked.

"I'll help you of course since it's kind of my fault that Carmelita no longer has her best friend" Sly said.

"You really are a good man, Sly Cooper. Don't ever change" Neyla said smiling lovingly at him.

(Am I the only one feeling that Neyla is acting out of character?)

"Thank you, my love but don't forget that you're pretty amazing yourself too" Sly said smiling as well.

Neyla's smile widened and she wrapped her arms around Sly's neck as she leaned in and kissed him. Sly returned the kiss with passion and draped his arms around Neyla's waist.

They broke apart and leaned their foreheads together.

"I love you" Neyla said.

"I love you too" Sly answered.

"Let's go" Neyla said after a moment.

They got up and ran the rest of the way to Carmelita's apartment's window and got in. They had entered her bedroom and fortunately she wasn't in there.

"Stay here. I want to talk to her alone" Neyla said to Sly.

"Be careful, Neyla" Sly said with a solemn expression. He was really worried about what Carmelita would do when she saw Neyla.

She nodded and went through the bedroom door to living room. Sly went to the door to follow the situation from the small gap. Carmelita was sitting on the couch watching news when Neyla entered the room. She looked around for awhile not sure what to do. After a moment of pondering she opened her mouth and said: "Carmelita?"

Sorry, I leave it here because I'm again running out of ideas and this is long enough as it is. Review and stuff.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Reconciliation

"Carmelita?"

Carmelita's ears and head perked up and she turned around on the couch to look at Neyla.

"Neyla? How did you get... Oh no, don't tell me! Where is that thief!?" she asked angrily, looking around.

"I'm right here, Carmelita" Sly said coming out from the bedroom.

"So much for talking to her alone" Neyla muttered.

"What are _you_ doing here!?" Carmelita asked directing her question to Sly.

"Just making sure you won't hurt Neyla" Sly replied eyes narrowing.

Carmelita was surprised. She had never seen Sly like this, not with her or Neyla.

"I wouldn't hurt her but I have a good mind to hurt you with my shock pistol" she said narrowing her eyes as well.

"That will be difficult considering that your shock pistol is here" he said drawing the pistol from his leg pouch.

"What...?! Where did you get that?!" she asked getting even more angry.

"From your bedroom" Sly asked grinning.

"Damn you, Cooper!"

"If you two are done!" Neyla said raising her voice, "I would like to talk to you" she said looking at Carmelita.

"But I don't want to talk to you, so get out of my apartment" Carmelita retorted coldly.

"I'm not going anywhere until you listen to me" Neyla said.

"Then I will leave" She said getting up and started heading for the door but Sly was faster. He blocked Carmelita's way and didn't let her pass.

"Get... out of... my... way, Cooper" she growled dangerously low.

"No, you're going to listen to her" Sly replied seriously.

Carmelita threw a punch at the raccoon but Sly ducked to evade it. She then tried to knee him to the ribs but Sly was again faster and pinned Carmelita against himself with his cane.

"You wouldn't happen to have handcuffs, my love?" Sly asked from Neyla.

"I do" she answered taking a pair from her belt and handing it to Sly.

"COOPER! DON'T YOU DARE!" Carmelita screamed, struggling to get loose but Sly was stronger and didn't let go.

"I think you have to do this, Neyla" Sly said as he did his best to keep the vixen in hold.

"I'm sorry for this Carmelita" Neyla said as she came closer and by some miracle managed to cuff Carmelita to a door handle.

"I don't give a damn of your meaningless apologizes" Carmelita snarled in venomous tone.

Sly let her go and quickly moved out of the range of punches and kicks.

"I'm going to leave now, my beautiful tigress. Be careful" Sly said and quickly kissed Neyla's cheek.

"Will you wait for me?" she asked.

"Of course" he replied with a grin.

Sly went back to the bedroom and from there to the rooftop. Meanwhile in the apartment Carmelita was eyeing Neyla furiously.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"I wanted to talk to you" Neyla answered.

"About?"

"About me and Sly"

" _You and Sly_ " Carmelita spat it out like a rotten piece of meat, "There's no such thing as you and Cooper. He's just playing you to get to something and I'm going to find out what it is. Don't you see? He's using you. Like he has done so many times with the both of us"

Neyla was really hurt when she heard her friend scream things like that to her but she kept it calm...

"Sly doesn't use people. He's a good man"

"No, he isn't. He's a thief, _a criminal_. Something you've sworn to fight against"

"It doesn't matter that he's a criminal. I'm happier with him than I've been in years with anyone. Including you!"

To hear her always-too-calm friend to snap at her like that made Carmelita wince and feel bad but only for a fleeting moment.

"You really are happier with that kind of lowlife scum than with _me?_ "

"You shot me and tried to kill Sly and you are somehow surprised that I rather be with him than _you_!" Neyla yelled, very angry now, "And the only real reason you're this angry is that Sly chose me instead of you"

Carmelita was about to deny it but Neyla cut her off before she could say a word.

"Don't even try to deny it. It was written all around your face when you saw us kissing"

Carmelita was in loss of words. She didn't know what to say. Neyla was right and they both knew it.

Suddenly Neyla turned to leave but stopped when Carmelita halted her:

"Wait!" she cried out, "You're right" she continued in a whisper.

Neyla was really surprised to hear this. Carmelita was one of the most stubborn persons she knew.

"You're right. I love that damn raccoon. I don't know why but I just do. I know it's wrong but I can't help it" she sobbed quietly, "And now... now, I missed my chance. He chose you and I will definitely beat him the next we meet"

"Carmelita, I need to know: Are you mad at me?" Neyla asked cautiously. She acknowledged that this might not have been the most best moment to ask that from her but she needed to know.

"I guess, I'm not. I'm mad at that Ringtail" Carmelita answered after awhile.

Neyla was happy about the fact that Carmelita didn't hate her. She went to open the cuffs and as soon as the cuffs were off she threw her hand around her and hugged the vixen tightly.

"I'm so happy you don't hate me, Carmy" Neyla almost sobbed.

Carmelita said nothing but hugged her back.

For awhile they stood there hugging then Neyla pulled away and said: "I'll go now but I'll come see you every once and awhile"

"You say it like we won't meet so often anymore"

"I'm going to turn in my badge and perhaps join Sly's gang" Neyla answered cautiously, gauging Carmelita's reaction.

Her ears dropped.

"If that's what you really want..." she said quietly.

"It is, Carmelita, trust me" Neyla replied.

"If you're sure but if _he_ ever mistreats you I will make him suffer" Carmelita said.

Neyla chuckled and said: "He won't. Sly is a good man"

Carmelita nodded.

"I'll go now, Carm but I try to visit you and call you and stuff" Neyla said and went for the bedroom.

"Goodbye" Carmelita said after her.

"Bye!" Neyla said from the bedroom.

She climbed through the window and to the rooftop where Sly was waiting for her. He had his back turned and he hadn't noticed her yet. Neyla was about to say his name but stopped when a thought came in mind.

"I wonder if I can sneak up on him" she thought to herself.

Neyla crouched down a little and started creeping silently towards the raccoon. Once she reached him Neyla raised her arms to grab his shoulders and give Sly a little scare. But Sly had known all along that the tigress was coming and just as she raised her arm he spun around and wrapped his own arms around the stunned tigress and embraced her in a kiss. Neyla was too surprised to return the kiss and as soon as Sly pulled away grinning his usual cocky grin she asked:

"How did hear me coming?"

"Come now, my love. You didn't think you could sneak up on me, did you?" Sly asked his grin widening.

"But how did you hear me?" she asked again.

"I'm a master thief. I have developed rather sensitive ears over the years" Sly explained, "Were we in some more quieter place I could hear even your smallest breath"

"This isn't the end of it. Once you've trained me to be a proper thief we'll see who's who"

This took Sly by surprise.

"You want me to train you? Train you to a master thief?" he asked astonished.

"Absolutely, my love" Neyla said and leaned to kiss the surprised raccoon.

"Now shall we go?" she asked once they pulled away.

"We shall" Sly said.

They took of to Neyla's apartment and started getting ready for the night.

Hope you liked this even if it's too short once again but I like it, so better get used to it. Review and stuff...


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: A date, my love?

 **Before we start the chapter I have a little message to pass down to all you readers: I am unfortunately going to leave this story here for a little while but worry not it will be continued but I have this other story that I just have to start writing again. So this is the last chapter to this story in awhile. Enjoy...**

Sly and Neyla ran across the Parisian rooftops heading to her apartment. The distance wasn't long which was a relief for the tigress and they soon arrived at their destination.

"We're here, my love" Neyla said, "Shall we take the front door or would you prefer something more... stealthy?"

"Well, usually I'm not the one to use front door but for you I'm more than willing to make an exception" Sly said grinning.

Neyla just laughed as they started getting down from the roof. On the way Sly couldn't help but to admire Neyla's agility and balance.

 _"She really is something"_ Sly chuckled mentally, _"Perhaps I should show her the_ book _"_ he thought.

They landed in front of the door and Neyla fished the keys from her pockets to open the door. Once it swung open they went inside.

"I've actually never been in your apartment. Well, other than the bedroom and I have always timed my visits so that you haven't been home" Sly suddenly said.

"Why's that?" Neyla asked.

"Well, do you remember Germany, my love...?"

 _Flashback_

 _Sly had just "relieved" a whole German_ Schloss (Castle in German. It's not a name but it's written with S instead of s because nouns are written like that in German language) _of everything valuable he could carry with_ _him_ _and was now sneaking around trying to find a way out. His earpiece didn't work due to all the stone walls between him and Bentley and he had also managed to break his BUC when a rope had accidentally snapped under him due to all of the gold and jewelry he was carrying. Sly was also bit worried about the fact that the two Interpol inspectors were within the castle's walls and probably inspecting the crime scene or perhaps already searching for him in the maze like corridor system which was enough to confuse even the master thief's almost infallible sense of direction._ (Trust me, there really are castles that big in Germany)

 _"Where the hell am I?" he questioned out loud as he took a new turn._

 _Sly continued to navigate through the castle's endless hallways and turned once again to a new corridor and looked around. He sighed in frustration._

 _"I've been here before" he thought, "So from here I turned left and then right and after that I went straight forward and turned left again... or was it right...? Gah! I don't know"_

 _He started to think the whole thing again but was interrupted by a muffled conversation that was slowly approaching him. He couldn't what they spoke about but was pretty sure that it was German._

 _"Guards. Damn! Where to now?" he thought as he quickly looked around._

 _The hallway had some doors like all the other ones. They were always locked with an electrical lock so Sly couldn't pick them open. There also were some tapestries hanging on the walls._

 _The guards flashlight was already near and Sly knew he hadn't much time. He continued to scan the corridor until he saw a chandelier hanging from the ceiling and a large, thick tapestry along which he could climb and then swing his cane to hook up to the chandelier and then haul himself up and he did just that. He got to a good position on the top of the chandelier to wait for the guards to pass from under him. Sly didn't need to wait for long before two large dogs came from around the corner carrying flash lights and nasty looking pistols with them. It seemed that they were having a conversation. Sly couldn't make a word out of it since he didn't speak German but listened still carefully because he knew the word thief and theft in every language imaginable._ (BTW Thief is Dieb and theft is Diebstahl in German) _Fortunately he didn't hear those words pop up in the conversation and as soon as the guards had gone he jumped down and continued his "orientation" through the castle. Sly, now very frustrated, wandered along the hallways trying to figure out a way out. He continued his headless walking until he saw a door that was slightly ajar. Sly thought that he could perhaps get a better view of things if he looked out of the window or even better if he could get to the roof and paraglide down from there. There weren't many window on the corridors and even if there were they were just narrow ones that didn't provide a very good view. He went to the door and peeked inside. Sly's eyes widened as he realized that he'd found the other inspector after him. The tigress was sleeping peacefully and Sly though that she looked like an angel from heavens. He took a moment to admire her beauty and after that he as quietly as possible opened the door a little more and slipped inside and pried his gaze off of Neyla as he looked around in the room. It was a small room with a dresser, a table, a bed and a mirror. There also was a door that lead to... a balcony!?_

 _"Finally some luck!" Sly thought as he tiptoed to the balcony door._

 _It was closed and Sly opened it a bit. The hinges creaked violently. The voice caused Sly to wince and before he could even realize what had happened a voice called from behind her: "Freeze, Cooper!"_

 _Sly quickly looked into the direction from where the voice had sounded and couldn't help his jaw that dropped as he laid eyes upon the inspector who had only a night gown on that was so transparent that Sly could see her undergarments._

 _"What are you gawking at!?" Neyla snapped. She had enough of men gawking her and she certainly didn't want the handsome thief to start doing it._

 _Sly quickly recomposed himself and broke a charming grin._

 _"I'm so, very sorry inspector but I wasn't quite ready for this. You caught me by surprise" Sly said reverting his gaze to look at the tigress' eyes._

 _Neyla seemed to have forgotten what she was wearing since she immediately glanced down and blushed furiously and never had Sly wished his binoc-u-com to be in shape more than he did now. He would've wanted to commemorate this moment but since the BUC was broken he just admired her pink face for a split second before running to the balcony and jumping down, deploying his paraglider. There was no firing of a gun behind him so he turned as much as he could while gliding to look at the balcony._

 _There was no one there._

 _"Why isn't she shooting at me right now?" Sly wondered._

 _But he decided just to be happy about it and when he got to the ground he contacted Bentley via his earpiece and they came to pick him up and fled to their current safe house._

End of flashback

"Of course I remember. How could I ever forget?" Neyla asked blushing again.

"I've never seen you blush as much as you did back then" Sly smirked liking the shade of red to which the tigress had turned

"But you still didn't answer the question, Sly" Neyla said.

"After that close call I figured that you weren't a heavy sleeper so I thought that perhaps it would be for the best that I didn't try to sneak in while you slept" Sly explained, "You know just that I weren't to find myself in the wrong end of that pistol of yours..."

"I've never been a heavy sleeper. Maybe it was good that you never tried to sneak in" Neyla pondered, "Although, I wouldn't mind it anymore" she continued and smiled at Sly.

Sly smiled back and then asked: "So what did you plan to do today, my love?"

"You ask like you'd have something in mind" Neyla observed still smiling.

"Well, I was wondering if I could take you out on a date to some fancy, high-class restaurant this evening" Sly suggested.

"Sounds great and after we get back I have a surprise for you..." Neyla purred allusively and smiled seductively.

"I can't wait" Sly said and drew Neyla into a kiss which she gladly returned.

After the need for air grew too great they broke the kiss leaning forehead against forehead, panting lightly.

 _"Je t'adore, ma belle tigresse"_ Sly said. (I love you, my beautiful tigress)

 _"Je t'adore aussi, mon beau raton"_ Neyla replied. (I love you too, my handsome raccoon)

 _"Je dois aller obtenir mon smoking pour le soir"_ Sly said detaching himself from Neyla. (I have to go get my tuxedo for the evening)

 _"Ne prends pas longtemps, mon amour"_ Neyla said. (Don't take long, my love)

 _"Je ne vais pas"_ Sly answered. (I won't)

(Sorry but I just love French)

Sly jumped out of the window and headed for the safe house. He hadn't said it to Neyla but he had held back when they had run to Carmelita's apartment and due to this he arrived at the safe house much faster. Sly went -against his principles- to the front door and knocked.

"Sly!?" Bentley shouted from somewhere.

"Yeah!" Sly called back.

"Just a minute!" Bentley called back.

Soon the door was opened by Sly's crippled friend.

"Back so soon?" Bentley asked cocking a brow.

"Come on, pal. You know me. Take a guess" Sly shrugged grinning.

Bentley rolled his eyes and returned to whatever he was doing before the interruption as Sly went to his room and recovered his tux from the cupboard. He was already leaving when he happened to glance at his desk where the Thievius Raccoonus was resting in it's glory.

"Perhaps I could..." Sly pondered.

After a moment of thinking he slipped the book into his knapsack and left for Neyla's apartment. He again ran through the Parisian rooftops towards his lady love's apartment. He slipped in through the living room window and looked around (He'd of course been the gentleman and not going in from the bedroom window). The tigress was nowhere in sight.

"Neyla?" Sly called softly.

"Yes, my love?" Neyla answered from the bathroom.

"I'm back"

"Excellent"

"I have something to show you"

"Now what could that be?" Neyla said emerging from the bathroom her hair damp and a bathrobe on.

Sly smiled at her and sat down to the couch and soon Neyla joined him. Sly took the Thievius Raccoonus from the knapsack and handed it to Neyla.

"This is the Thievius Raccoonus. The Cooper family book. It contains all of my family's thieving secrets" Sly explained.

Neyla's eyes widenred.

"Why are you showing it to me, Sly? They're your family secrets" she said.

"And I want to share them with you, my love" Sly said firmly, gazing into Neyla's eyes.

"Are you sure, Sly?"

"I am, my love"

Neyla nodded as she -with slightly trembling hands- opened the book and leafed through the pages of the ancient tome which held the thieving secrets of the Cooper family.

"I'll leave you to it, my beautiful tigress" Sly said as he got up and gave her kiss to the cheek.

"By the way, Neyla, you wouldn't happen to have an iron would you? My tux could really use it" Sly asked.

"Huh, oh yeah. It's in the bathroom in one of the drawers" Neyla said absent-mindedly.

"Thank you, hon" Sly smiled as he went to the bathroom and took out the iron and the board and laid the tux on it.

He systematically ironed his tuxedo which took good two hours.

Meanwhile Neyla had been reading through the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus with great intent. She was retentively memorizing the secrets in the Cooper family book. Once Sly came out from the bathroom he saw that Neyla was still reading the book.

"How's the book, my love?" Sly asked smiling.

"It's amazing" Neyla said not looking up from the book.

"I'm glad you like it but alas evening is coming and perhaps you should start getting ready for our date while I go and procure little something..." Sly suggested.

"Just what are you up to, Sly?" Neyla asked little cop-ishly.

"Oh, nothing" Sly said looking innocent like a little child.

Neyla just had to laugh at his expression.

"I'll go make myself presentable" she said as she headed back for the bathroom.

Sly on the other hand once again darted out from the window and headed for a car shop...

* * *

Neyla was sitting in an armchair in her living room

 _"Where is he?"_ she thought.

Neyla had been waiting 40 minutes for Sly. She'd put on some make up and a long, green, sleeveless dress which went well with her eyes. On her neck was a emerald necklace that Sly had given her on her birthday few years ago.

 _"He had slipped in when I was away at work and left the gift on my nightstand"_ she chuckled at the memory. Neyla had called Carmelita right after she'd found the necklace wrapped in gift paper with a skillfully made bow on top of it.

"You look lovely in that dress" came a voice behind her.

Neyla turned around and saw a raccoon in a clean, ironed suit with his hair combed back from his usual spiky coif.

"Sly! where were you?!" Neyla exclaimed.

"Why? Did you doubt me?" Sly teased but in his mind he really wanted to know if she had.

"Of course not" Neyla answered quickly, "But where were you?"

"Well, I needed to get a ride for us to the restaurant" Sly replied.

"By 'get' you mean...?" Neyla asked cocking a brow.

"What can I say, love" he shrugged, "Old habits haven't even had the time to die hard"

"That was an interesting version of the proverb..." Neyla said trying to hide a smile.

Sly laughed and offered his hand to the tigress. She took it and allowed Sly to lead her out of her apartment and to in front of a graceful, red sport Ferrari.

"How do you like it, my love?" Sly asked.

Neyla was at loss of words and she had to admit a little sting of guilt and doubt for being an Interpol officer and using a stolen sports car but her doubts were cut short when Sly hanged the keys in front of her face and asked:

"Wanna drive?"

Neyla didn't waste any time taking the keys and hopping to the driver's seat.

 _"Screw it"_ she thought about the guilt and doubts when she felt the engine start to purr under her.

"Where do we drive?" Neyla asked.

" 31 Avenue George" Sly answered.

"Wait, that's the address of..." Neyla started.

"Restaurant _Le Cinq_ " Sly finished. (Le cinq=the Five and it's an actual restaurant in Paris and even the address is real)

"But Sly, that's one of the most expensive restaurants in Paris" Neyla said. (That I made up. It's 4,5 star restaurant but about it's price level I don't know)

"I know, my beautiful tigress but that's where we're going" Sly smiled.

Neyla just smiled back and started heading for _Le Cinq_. Once they arrived Sly got out and went to open Neyla door and offer his hand to her which she gladly accepted. Neyla stood there for a minute looking at the restaurant.

"Shall we, my love?" Sly asked offering his hand again.

"We shall" Neyla said taking his hand... again.

They walked inside and Sly addressed the waiter quickly and he led them to a private cabinet where he took their orders for drinks and food.

"While we wait for our food why don't you tell me about yourself" Sly said.

Neyla bit her lip. Her past wasn't a good one and she wasn't keen to share it but in the other hand... she really wanted to tell Sly.

Sly must've seen her hesitation because he said: "You don't need to tell me if you want to"

"No, I want to. It's just that... I'm not proud of some things I've done" she said looking away.

"You can tell me Neyla. I won't judge you no matter what you've done" Sly said reaching out for her hand across the table.

"Thank you, Sly" she whispered and so began her tale.

She told him about her childhood in New Delhi as a poor child and her time in the British university and her "homework ring" there and how, instead of being arrested she was sent to Interpol as an officer.

"I met Carmelita when we were both assigned to your case. We soon became friends and then... I met you" Neyla finished looking at Sly gauging his reaction.

Sly had listened intently and felt really sorry for her early past but was really happy that she had been let to join Interpol and met Carmelita.

"It's your past and a part of you so I can't do anything else but to love it" Sly said smiling.

Neyla had to smile at that.

"Really?" she asked.

"Of course. You did what you could under the circumstances that you had and I don't blame you for it" Sly said.

"Thank you, Sly" Neyla said again.

Just then their food and drinks arrived and they ate in silence until Neyla broke it: "How about your past?"

Sly sighed a little but didn't protest. He told her about his parents' death, his time at the orphanage, meeting Bentley and Murray, thieving around the world.

"And I was always happy to see you chasing me after a successful heist" Sly finished smiling a little sheepishly.

Neyla laughed. She was really happy that Sly had told her about his past and more importantly accepted her even after knowing what she'd done.

 _"He really loves me"_ Neyla thought.

After they'd finished their meals Sly asked for the tab which was delivered rather quickly. Neyla was about to protest when Sly dug up his wallet but was but off: "No, you're not paying Neyla or sharing the tab. A gentleman _never_ let's the lady pay" Sly reasoned.

"Fine, I'll let you pay this once" Neyla answered fake-pouting.

Sly chuckled and laid the banknotes to the plate and got up to offer his arm to Neyla. She took it as she got up.

"Where to now?" Neyla asked as they walked out of the restaurant.

"We could go dancing" Sly suggested opening the car door for the tigress.

"Sounds lovely" she replied.

"I know a good place" Sly said, "Do you know where's the _27 Rue de Saisons_?" (That's an made up address BTW and it mean road/street of seasons)

"Yeah" she answered starting up the engine and heading for the driveway.

Neyla didn't exactly remember where the _Rue de Saisons_ was located so Sly helped her to navigate there. Once they had arrived Sly once again went to open the door for Neyla and of course offered his hand. She accepted and let Sly lead her to the dance club. They got to the dance floor just as a tango song started to play. Sly smirked and placed his hand on Neyla waist as the other grasped her hand. Neyla laid her other hand on Sly's shoulder and they began to dance. They swung, stepped, leaned and danced gracefully until they had lost track of time.

"Where did you learn to dance like this?" Neyla asked.

"As I said before there's two thing a master thief just has to know beside thieving: How to cook perfectly and how to spun the woman they adore almost into dizziness on the dance floor" Sly answered smiling as he tipped the tigress gracefully.

Neyla smiled as well and they continued to dance for a good while until they both panted lightly.

"Shall we go home, my love? I still have a surprise for you" Neyla whispered in Sly's ear.

Sly grinned and answered with a twinkle in his eyes: "Let's go"

They walked out of the club, back to the Ferrari and drove to Neyla's apartment. Neyla didn't bother to wait for Sly to come open the car door for her. She got out as soon as the engine died away and waited for Sly to join her. They walked to the door and went inside.

"Come, Sly" Neyla said as she pulled Sly towards the bedroom.

"Don't need telling me twice" Sly replied failing to keep the excitement from his voice.

The raccoon and the tigress went through the bedroom door and stopped there.

"So, what was the surprise, my love?" Sly asked grinning.

"This" Neyla said as she quickly moved forwards to wrap her arms around Sly's neck and drew her into a passionate kiss.

She pulled him to the bed and continued to kiss until Neyla pulled away and said: "Prepare yourself, my handsome raccoon. I'm going to give you the time of your life"

Sly grinned widely and leaned in for another kiss...

 **I'll leave it to your imagination, my dear readers. I'm sorry but I'm not the one for lemons. Review and stuff...**


End file.
